A new home for the goats

Hello ya'll


It's been busy a busy week around the farm.  The baby bunnies now have fur and their eyes are open.  They are 10 days old now and absolutely adorable.  They will be jumping around in no time.  Cappucino is a wonderful mom.  Ronnie's babies are growing nicely.  Soon she will wean her babies because they are eating well.

The two new baby goats are finally eating well, growing and quite content.   Now that we have the beginnings of a little herd, it was definitely time to give them their own space. 

We had an old garden shed that was in the middle of the garden and not serving any particular purpose  so thanks to our dear neighbour Rheal, we moved it.  This was not an easy task!!  Sergio tried to drag it with the tractor but it was just ripping  apart.  Rheal showed up with his lovely front end loader with the large forks attached.  We decided to place it beside the barn so it was close enough that we could see the goats from the house and so Cujo could watch over them easily (he is getting older and he takes his job VERY seriously).  We removed all the tractor attachments and added some top soil so we could plant pasture mix to allow them to graze.  There are natural juts of rock and the footing is uneven which is perfect for the goats to jump and play.  The shed was carefully carried and placed on the foundation.  I was so pleased to see Rheal's skill in working the front end loader.  He placed it perfectly on the two railroad ties.  Might sound so simple but 2 1/2  later we had the beginnings of our goats' new home.  Wish I had pictures of the move but it was spur of the moment and so intense I didn't have time to get the camera.

Saturday morning we quickly but efficiently did all our barn chores and off we were to Home Depot to get materials to renovate the old garden shed for a cute little house for my growing herd. We picked a sand coloured panel siding, what we thought were more brown shingles, roofing nails and I got another surprise from my honey...a PINK hammer to match my PINK tool belt.  For those of you who know me, you know how important anything pink is to me.  Thank you my darling for all the little things, they mean so much to me.  We even bought a window for our little muffins.  We loaded up our materials anxious to get back home and get started.  

We began by stripping off the old shingles then carefully measured, cut and nailed in the siding.  Sergio loves to bring out the table saw and all his tools and I love to get in there like a dirty sock.  Demolition is my favourite thing to do.  He calls me a little bull in a china shop which is awesome because I have a little bull now!!  By the way Moomoo is growing exponentially .  He stays outside during the day and only comes in the barn at night now. The instalment of the window was interesting because where I wanted it placed where it was going to compromise the structure of  the building.  Putting two strong minded Italians together becomes very interesting, even trickier when one doesn't understand structural things and the other one does it for a living.  Like the awesome team we are VOILA!!!!!

The scaffolding you see in the picture was a great idea.  So much easier than balancing on a ladder on uneven surfaces especially when it came to shingling the roof.  Now I had never shingled before and my honey is not a teacher, so it took me a while to get the hang of it but once I did, me and my pink hammer were AMAZING!!  

Earlier on when I told you that we thought we had brown shingles...We were wrong.  We got black ones by accident.  Instead of going back into town, which leaving the farm on the week end is a stretch for me, we designed the shingles to match the interior of my car.  Black half way up and brown at the top. 

Unfortunately we couldn't finish our project because April 29th is an important day.  My eldest son celebrated his 25th birthday on Sunday.  Sunday dinner at the farm is a MUST show up unless you are dying day but because it was Kris' birthday and they just purchased their new home, Lesley made her honey family dinner at their house.  She did an AMAZING job. Enjoy the pics and good night ya'll.  Thanks to the people in Russia, Germany, Italy, USA and home for reading.

Making Goat Cheese

Hello ya'll


We had a great night last night.  We made the best batch of goat cheese so far!!  So exciting to share it with Kristofer, Lesley and Sergio's brother Ricky.  We did it old school, in the garage.


This is what we did ( Sonia's Goat Cheese Recipe) ADAPTED FROM POPS' RECIPE


 15 litres of fresh whole goat milk
2 tsp of rennet (purchased at Grande Cheese in Woodbridge, ON)
coarse salt

1. Using a propane burner,  add 14 litres to large stainless steel pot (we used the one Pops used-save one litre for later
2. Turn on the burner to medium heat
3. Insert the thermometer
4. Patiently wait until the milk reaches 125 degrees Fahrenheit
5. Mix the rennet with 1/2 cup water and gently stir
6. add the rennet mixture to the hot milk and gently stir
7. Shut the heat off, cover and wait 1/2 hour
8. Pour everyone some wine, light a good cigar and chit chat
9. After the half hour use a large whisk (we use Pop's homemade wooden one) and gently break up the large curds
10. Turn the heat back on low
11. Wait 5 minutes then wash hands
12. Reach in the pot and collect all the curds in the pot and press together in the pot until you have a large ball
13. Squeeze as much milk out as you can then transfer to a wooden cheese form (we have the ones that Pops used (soooo cool)
14. Press the cheese with your palms squeezing out the milk turning the form as to work both sides
15. Place on a plate and cool

The next step will give you at least to ricottas

1. Add the one litre of milk that you saved into the pot
2. Cover,  check occasionally until the milk comes to a gentle rolling boil
3. You will see the ricotta forming at the top
4. Let it gently boil for just a few minutes
5. Turn off the heat
6. With a slotted spoon gently pick up the ricotta at the top and place into drainable containers (I have containers that I have saved when I have purchased it in the store)
7. Do not squeeze or press
8. Let one drain on a plate
9. Take a spoon and some fresh bread at either salt and pepper. or honey and enjoy with wine and family
10. YUMMY

We had a great time sharing stories of how Pops used to make it and Sergio and  Rick's uncles made it in Italy.  The rest of the milk was poured into bottles and Kristofer had some and  I brought some to school for my lactose intolerant friend Cindy.  I saved some and added some dried bread as a treat for the chickens.  They loved that.

I did have a bit of bad news today..When I went to feed the rabbits, one of the baby rabbits had passed away.  Poor little muffin I felt so bad.  I think she had too many babies this time and was not able to feed the runt.  We will see how many babies there are when they start coming out of the nest.  That won't be for about a week.  I'll keep you posted.  The rest of the animals are doing very well.  The new baby goats had their horns burned on Sunday and are doing well.  I even got to give them their needles.  Maybe when I grow up I will be a vet LOL!!

Enjoy your evening ya"ll.

New Baby bunnies

Good morning ya'll.  The horses are frisky this morning.  When I woke up they were running and playing.  It is has been almost 6 years on the farm and it is still such a joy to look out and see them in the morning.  I finally was able to see Cappuccino's babies.  She had a bucketload this time.  When i Went in to feed them she had been nursing and the nest was uncovered and this is what i saw.

As I mentioned earlier baby bunnies are born hairless, blind and deaf.  They are not the cutest when they are first born but just wait a week and they become adorable.  I couldn't count them properly but my guesstimate 10.  Cappucino started making her nest on Wednesday and it was quite deep.  She is such a small doe but has turned out to be a great mom.  The first time she had babies she didn't even make a nest and 2 of her babies did not survive but she has it down pat now.

This is Ronnie and her 5 week old babies.  They were born during the March break when Sergio and i were in Cuba.  Yes we were able to take a well deserved holiday this year.  Thank-you to all my children for pitching in.  I am so pleased that the family pulls together.  The children were not pleased when we made the decision to move to the country.  They were 18,16 and 13 with full city lives and friends.  There were alot of things to work out at first and it took them a while to transition to being farther away but they have finally come around and enjoy the farm.  While on our trip Kris and Lesley moved in for the week and followed the 5 page routine I wrote for them to a tee.  Kaytlin fed the baby goats for the lunch feeding and on the week-end when Kris and Lesley went out of town Mykel moved in to do the week end. 

Lesley doing the morning feeding

Kaytlin

Mykel

March was a great month the weather got warm and all the animals were taken out to romp around the farm.  On March 23 though I received yet another surprise that would take the farm to a new level.  Sergio was going to North Bay for a meeting and he discovered a dairy goat farmer.  So decided to pick up 18 litres of goat milk so we could learn how to make cheese.  When I came home from work that day thinking that cheese making would be exciting enough, I was sent to the barn.  When I opened the barn doors I heard a very different sound.  I looked in the stall and I can't even explain the emotion I felt when I saw a 2 day old jersey calf.   He was soooooo adorable.  I always wanted a cow to complete the farm but was told they were too hard to keep but there he was in my barn.  It was the best surprise EVER.  Sergio knows me sooo well.  No diamonds or pearls for this chick, a cow  was a perfect gift.

Welcome to Charming Shadows MooMoo

He needed to be bottle fed as well.  It took me a few days to get him eating since he too

was abandoned at birth but 2 days later MooMoo was guzzling 2 litres of milk 4 times a

day.  He is growing stronger and bigger every day and another joy to have around the

farm.  Here are some pics I took of all the animals romping around the farm.

The easter babies

Mamma and her babies





I got so excited about the cow I forgot to tell ya'll bout the cheese making.  Pops used to make cheese all the time with sheep and goats milk.  My mother-in-law still had the pot, the forms and the homemade whisk he used to use.  So this adventure began. We tried to be as traditional as possible.  Pops used to make his cheese on an open fire with all natural renit (dried up milk from the stomach of a baby goat--sorry again but that's what it is)  We used synthetic renit we bought at Grande Cheese in Woodbridge.  We bought a propane burner and did it outside.  We put 14 litres of milk in Pops' pot and turned the heat on.  When the milk was 115 degrees we added the renit and then turned the heat off and waited a half hour.  During this time the renit curdled the milk.  We took Pop's homemade whisk and slowly turned the curds and turned the heat back on.  With clean hands I reached in and to my delight there was masses of cheese at the bottom of the pot.  I gathered all the cheese in a ball then removed it and placed it in Pop's form. 

After the cheese was removed we added a litre of whole goat milk back into the pot, turned the heat on and waited till it began to boil.  What came next was two containers of ricotta cheese.  We were so proud of ourselves and so were our moms.  The rest of the milk was skim goat milk that I used for our milk and gave some to Kristofer who is lactose intolerant.  Goat milk has no lactose so he is able to drink it.  He was one of the reasons I wanted goats in the first place so he could have milk and cheese.We have made cheese 3 times already and were pleased to serve it on Easter Sunday. 

Last week we received a call from the dairy goat farmer.  He had two baby girls that needed bottle feeding and asked if we were interested.  One was a triplet, the runt that didn't get enough milk and one was abandoned by her mom.  Because they were girls were excited to get them because this meant that we could get our herd started.  We would be able to breed them and then I would have 3 goats to milk which would be enough to provide us with milk and enough to make cheese from our own milk.

Fiona and Nina and yes they are wearing pink rhinestone collars thanks Katie

We are now back to bottle feeding two baby goats and I love it.  They were a challenge to feed at the beginning they would not suck at the first but a week later they are drinking a bottle and a half each.  They are going on a trip this afternoon.  We are going back to the farm where they were born to have their horns burned.  This may sound horrible but for our safety and theirs they will be better off without horns.  While we are in Sturgeon Falls we will pick up more milk to make more cheese.  Have a good Sunday everyone.  Barn chores are waiting for me.

New baby goats

Hopefully you were brave enough to watch the video.  After the excitement of the birth we started focussing on getting the babies to nurse.  Mommy did not want to get up , she kept gnawing at her teats and she would push the babies away.  After a short while I felt something was wrong.  I tried to milk her myself and not a drop of milk would come out.  It was later in the evening at this point so i sent Mykel to the pharmacy to pick up baby bottles and formula.  We began bottle feeding them and hoped that her milk would come down by morning. 

Early the next morning mommy was uncomfortable, her udder was massive and a very dark purple.  We called a vet and by noon we were off to Sturgeon Falls to get Dove some help.

Thank-you Mykel for staying with the babies and feeding them every hour. 

It was not good news for our new mom.  Sadly she passed away the next morning.  We now had two orphaned kids that needed us desperately and I was determined.  We went out and bought a goat milk substitute and took great care in getting the babies to drink from the bottle.  My decision to bring the babies in the house was not received with great joy since up until the last few years having a dog and a cat in the house was a stretch for Sergio.  Like the trooper he is, he realized that getting winter clothes on and hiking up to the barn every hour was not an option.  So in the house they came.  In a box lined with hay in the basement bathroom It was adorable and convenient.

After a week the babies were eating well and were able to stay in the barn.  We rigged bottles in socks attached to their stall so they would be able to eat while we at work.  They quickly got the hang of that too.

One week later the other doe gave birth to two baby bucks.  She did it on her own during the night and in the morning there was not one trace of the birth.   I was so proud of her and she nursed normally.  Thank God!!!  We have not spending much time with these babies to allow mom and nature to do their jobs.  They are adorable though and will be 8 weeks old on Thursday.

Remembering the rule that Leslie told her son Avery, farm animals either produce food or are food,  Easter was fast approaching.  Being of Italian tradition, goat or lamb was always part of the traditional Italian Easter meal.  Our two orphaned baby goats were harvested for that reason.  It was a very difficult morning but come Easter Sunday our table of 38 enjoyed their contribution (immensely).